Feuillants

Feuillants (föyäNˈ) [key], political club of the French Revolution. It emerged in July, 1791, when those Jacobins who opposed a petition for the dethronement of the king split off and began to meet at the former Feuillant convent. Its chief member was Antoine Barnave. The Feuillants advocated a constitutional monarchy. In Mar., 1792, Girondists helped overthrow the Feuillant ministry, which opposed war against Austria. From then on, the Feuillants were identified with the royalists and aristocrats and, after the fall (Sept., 1792) of the monarchy, were suppressed by the Jacobins.